An Olympics With Empty Stands Is One of Tokyo’s Bad Options
It would satisfy the athletes and the media companies that pay the IOC billions to broadcast the events—if they happen.
The Olympic stadium in Tokyo.
Photographer: imimasa Mayama/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
With a $5.9 billion budget and a decade of planning behind it, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo had been expected to draw 11,000 of the world’s elite athletes and more than 600,000 tourists when it starts in late July. But with the coronavirus spreading rapidly, and Japan having already closed schools and canceled public events, the International Olympic Committee is reportedly assessing its options—including a games with few, if any, spectators.
That prospect is becoming less unthinkable by the day. Some U.S. college basketball, European soccer, and Japanese baseball teams are competing in empty venues. The annual Formula One race in Bahrain on March 22 will be run without any fans. Even the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony, which usually takes place in Greece amid much fanfare, is scheduled to occur this week without spectators.